Community pillar Temple Israel turns 125

Correction: Howard Schwartz was misidentified in a photo caption in an earlier version of this story.

Temple Israel has been a part of the Springfield community for 125 years, so the Jewish congregation wants to invite the community to its anniversary celebration.

“We want the public there because we are celebrating being part of the Springfield community,” said Mara Cohen Ioannides, who organized the event.

It was on Nov. 4, 1893 that the articles of association were signed for the fledgling congregation. Exactly 125 years later, they will be read aloud to remind all who attend the celebration of the faith of those men and women who were part of the original membership.

The south side of the Temple Israel synagogue features the Star of David above a welcoming archway. The building serves as a place of worship, education center and a community building.(Photo11: Linda Leicht)

The public is invited to share in the celebration, which will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday at Temple Israel with the blowing of the shofar, the traditional way of calling people to prayer. The shofar, a ram's-horn trumpet, is mentioned frequently in the Bible, first in Exodus 19 when Moses called the people to Mount Sinai.

Throughout the ceremony, candles will be lit — one for the past, one for the present and one for the future.

Springfield Mayor Ken McClure will read a proclamation as the celebration continues with prayers, performances by the Temple Israel choir and testimonials. “We will hear the voices of people who have been part of the congregation, old and new,” Ioannides said.

A special string performance of “L’Dor V’Dor” (Generation to Generation) by choir director Ken Burstin and Missouri State University music professor Christopher Kelts expresses the intergenerational impact of the synagogue.

Moses Levy and child(Photo11: Submitted photo)

Early immigrants

Springfield had a Jewish community by the mid-1800s, first with immigrants from Germany, then from Eastern Europe. Temple Israel was formed by the German population, part of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, which represents Reformed Judaism. At the same time, the Temple Israel Cemetery, located off Seminole Street, was opened.

The Jewish and Christian residents were supportive of each other from the beginning. The earliest known Jewish service held in Springfield was on Yom Kippur in the South Street Christian Church building, according to Ioannides’ book, “Jews of Springfield in the Ozarks.” The service was led by a rabbi from St. Louis.

Meanwhile, Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe were worshipping on their own. The first Orthodox service was held in 1912 in a home, “Jews of Springfield in the Ozarks” says. The Orthodox congregation incorporated in 1918 as Sha’are Zedek (Gates of Wisdom) and rented a room in the Masonic Temple on Walnut Street.

The original Temple Israel was located on the corner of Belmont Street and Kickapoo Avenue. The congregation outgrew that building in 1990, so a larger facility was built east of Springfield. The old synagogue is now owned by Credo Arts Center.(Photo11: Linda Leicht)

It wasn’t until 1930 that Temple Israel built a small synagogue at the corner of Kickapoo Avenue and Belmont Street. A rabbi from Tulsa, Oklahoma, was there to dedicate the synagogue. In 1938, Rabbi Ernest Jacob and his wife, Annette, arrived from Germany to serve the small congregation for the next 25 years. The Jacob family was brought to Springfield “as a way of saving families” from the Holocaust that was happening in Europe, Ioannides said. “We saved rabbis and their families.”

At the time, Springfield was one of the few locations in the area where congregations had a full-time rabbi, first at Sha’are Zedek, she added. The two congregations shared the synagogue following World War II and merged in 1975. In 1990, Temple Israel built a new synagogue east of Springfield which remains today, serving an active, vibrant congregation.

Part of the community

Barbara Block, rabbi of Temple Israel(Photo11: Submitted photo)

Rabbi Barbara Block pointed out that, while the synagogue is celebrating 125 years of history, the congregation is also looking to the future. “I came here in 2014 and, while my history with the congregation is much shorter than many of my congregants, I’m beginning to see a sense of history as I see babies I named entering our religious school,” she said. “I feel very blessed to become a part of this community and look forward to continuing to grow with the congregation in the future.”

The Jewish congregation has been an important part of the community over the years. The very first charity supported by the Temple Israel Sisterhood in the early 1900s was the Orphan Home in Springfield. During World War II, the congregation reached out to the soldiers at O’Reilly Hospital in a variety of ways, including hosting a Passover Seder for soldiers, nurses and their families in 1943.

Howard Schwartz gathers some of the last produce of the season from the Temple Israel community garden. The garden, which features raised beds over about a quarter of an acre, has provided more than 3,700 pounds of produce this year, most of it donated to Ozarks Food Harvest.(Photo11: Linda Leicht)

Today, a community garden on the grounds of the synagogue has produced more than 3,700 pounds of fresh produce for Ozarks Food Harvest. The synagogue’s annual Arts Fest, scheduled this year for Nov. 11, is a community favorite, and the Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) service is held in conjunction with the Council of Churches of the Ozarks every spring at Temple Israel or an area Christian church.

The community has also supported the synagogue, most notably in 2001 when the Temple Israel Cemetery was vandalized. Volunteers with the Council of Churches of the Ozarks cleaned red swastikas off the headstones. The Council of Churches paid to have all the headstones resurfaced and straightened up, with the Catholic diocese contributing $1,000, and countless individuals called, sent money and helped clean up.

Over the more than 125 years that Jewish families have lived in and around Springfield, they have been an important part of the community. On Nov. 4, Temple Israel hopes the community will help celebrate that relationship and share in its hopes for the future.